A COPPER came a cropper when his attempts to imitate one of his favourite TV characters for a charity fundraiser turned into a Phoenix nightmare.

Keith Rimmer joined colleagues from Blackburn CID in fancy dress as characters from the hit Channel 4 comedy Phoenix Nights -- taking on the role of bouncer Max.

In his eagerness to look the part, he dyed his hair jet black, only to wake up in the morning to find it had turned bluey-purple!

Keith, a detective constable, said: "There are a few flecks of silver in my hair so I wanted to dye it to look like Max. I bought one of those semi-permanent home dyeing kits and everybody said I looked good on the night. I'd even been growing a goatee beard all week.

"I didn't notice at first but when I looked in the mirror the morning after it had gone really blue. I looked like a cross between Phyllis Pearce off Coronation Street and Eddie Munster! My wife Tracy thought it looked OK but I didn't."

An embarrassed Keith, 35, had to take a day off work yesterday to get the blue barnet shaved off at his local barbers near his home in Wigan and had to wear a hat to avoid any further blushes.

He said: "The day after I went shopping wearing a baseball cap and dropped the kids at school wearing a bob hat. I could put up with jokes in the office, but was worried about meeting people who didn't know what we'd been up to! It was safer to get it shaved off."

The event took place at Langho Football Club and was organised by detective Paul Withers and colleagues in the Blackburn office and raised £1,500 for Cancer Research and Children with Leukaemia.

Compering was Jerry St Clair, aka DS Withers, who also put on a show as an Elvis impersonator.

DC Neil Ashton joined Keith as Max's sidekick Paddy and it was all under the watchful eye of Peter Kay's character, Phoenix Club supremo Brian Potter, played by DC Mark Rushton.

DJ Gary Hird dressed as Spencer and Ray Von to spin the discs all night long and DCs Dan Perkins and Ian Geogarty donned a panto costume to play the drunken horse which graced the first series.

DS Withers said: "It's a shame Keith had his hair shaved off before we could see him because we were quite keen to take the mickey!

"But it was a right ding-dong do. We had a great laugh and all enjoyed getting dressed up."

DS Withers is running the London Marathon next month dressed as his hero, Elvis Presley. To sponsor him, call 01254 353562.